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Gravity
Gravity was a Dutch robot that competed in Series 2 of Dutch Robot Wars and Series 7 of the UK Robot Wars. In the latter, it comfortably reached the Semi-Finals, defeating the seeded 13 Black and Dantomkia in the process, before finishing in the top eight after losing to then-reigning champion Tornado. Gravity was the first robot to overturn Dead Metal, as well as being the only to flip Growler and Cassius Chrome over. It also broke the shortest battle record by flipping Dantomkia out of the arena in 5.8 seconds during the Series 7 Semi-Finals, and was the most successful international robot ever to compete in the UK series. Versions of Gravity Gravity 1 The first televised version of Gravity competed in the second series of Dutch Robot Wars. It was a polycarbonate box-wedge with a pneumatic flipping arm, which lay flush to the floor with decent lifting power. Gravity was quick, and for a two-wheel driven robot, it had extreme pushing power. However, it had a high ground clearance, it could not self-right, and its polycarbonate armour was highly destructible. The robot somewhat resembled the loanerbot entered as The Green House and Vert-I-Go. Gravity 2 Version 2 was never seen on television but served as a prototype to the successor that would later become more successful in Series 7 of the UK Robot Wars. It had a red frame with polycarbonate armour armed with an X-Shaped flipper. It would compete in the Dutch Robot Games events. Gravity 3 The version of Gravity seen in Series 7 was the third iteration of the machine. Resembling a snowspeeder in shape, Gravity 3's main weapon was an extremely powerful full-pressure flipper, easily capable of flipping in excess of 300 kilograms (as demonstrated when Growler was flipped by Gravity) and driving through a car at speeds of 10 mph. The armour, on the other hand, was not the most resilient, as demonstrated during the House Robot Rebellion after a hammer blow from Mr Psycho. Gravity's pneumatics system was loosely based on Dantomkia's, as Dantomkia had participated in a Dutch Robot Rumble and been stripped down as part of a workshop to help the Dutch roboteers. The use of buffer-tanks, multiple inlet 1/2bsp valves and the giant high pressure 100mm bore 180mm stroke ram combined with the uncoupled flipper arm was a first, and spawned many successful copies and derivatives. Gravity 4 After Series 7 of Robot Wars, WJ Dijkstra sold Gravity 3 to Belgian team Team VHS and built a new version of Gravity also known as Gravity 4. This version was a grey box-shaped robot with a flipping arm similar to that of the original Ewe 2. It was seen fighting at Roaming Robots Events held at Folkestone and Newark in 2004 Gravity 4.5 Gravity 4.5 was a flat box-shaped robot with a blue flipping arm. It had parts from version 4 only that it was a bit more compact and stronger. It was seen at the Fourth Qualifer Round show of the Roaming Robots Winter Tour 2004 at King's Lynn where in a battle it flipped Terrorhurtz out the arena with assistance from Hades, a robot that was made from parts from Version 3. Gravity 5 Version 5 was built in 2010, it was a small, compact, red and black box-wedge shaped robot with a powerful wide flipper arm but this version was less reliable. Other versions of it were made as well. History Dutch Robot Wars Series 2 Gravity's first battle was against Das Gepäck. Das Gepäck slammed Gravity into the wall, but Gravity was able to get underneath and lift Das Gepäck with its arm. It pushed Das Gepäck into the wall and pinned it before driving it into Sgt. Bash's CPZ and flipping it over. Das Gepäck escaped, but Gravity caught it and again forced it into Sgt. Bash's CPZ, this time flipping it up against the wall. Sgt. Bash freed Das Gepäck, and time ran out, meaning the jury would be called upon to make a decision. They ruled in favour of Gravity. In the next round, Gravity faced Bloody Murder Weapon. Gravity's flipper was not working, but its pushing power was sufficient enough to push Bloody Murder Weapon into Growler's CPZ. After Growler released it, Gravity simply pushed it in again. Gravity tried twice more to push Bloody Murder Weapon into a CPZ, but Bloody Murder Weapon escaped unharmed. Persistently, Gravity pushed Bloody Murder Weapon into a CPZ again, and this time Sir Killalot picked up Bloody Murder Weapon and spun it around the arena, releasing it just as the clock ran out. The jury's decision was, predictably, in favour of Gravity. In the Heat Final, Gravity faced Scrap-2-Saur. It managed to dodge Scrap-2-Saur's flipper for a few moments, but Scrap-2-Saur eventually got underneath and flipped it. It righted Gravity immediately after, only to flip it again. Gravity's flipper was still not working, so it was defenceless as Scrap-2-Saur pushed it into the CPZ, where Dead Metal sliced through its tyres. Gravity was counted out, and Matilda charged in with her flywheel, destroying Gravity's left side and tearing out its internals. Gravity was placed on the floor flipper, and the force of the flip caused Gravity's CO2 canister to separate from its hose and go skittering across the arena, propelled by its rapidly escaping gas. The CO2 canister eventually fell into the pit, followed shortly by Gravity. UK Robot Wars Series 7 Gravity made a tremendous start to its heat as it went up against Hydra, Thor, and Hodaf the Bad in Round 1. As both teams were in the same control booth, Gravity's team intended to team up with Hodaf the Bad, against Hydra and Thor. Gravity immediately charged at Hydra and tossed it high into the air with ease. As it came in for a second attack, Gravity missed with its flip, turning itself over, but rolled back onto its wheels after being flicked by Hydra. Gravity then pursued the fleeing Hydra across the arena, before briefly turning to attack Thor, but they were unable to get under Thor's front wedge. Instead, Gravity picked on Hydra again, flipping their opponent and sending them spinning through the air again. As Hydra attempted to turn over Gravity with its lifting arm, Gravity flipped them once more, in an attempt to throw it out of the arena, causing it to land on the arena wall and destroy a section of it. Gravity then threw Hydra from the arena and into a camera, breaking it, before 'cease' was called for safety reasons. Not hearing the original 'cease', the team continued fighting, and flipped Thor over Refbot, causing its hammer to become stuck in Refbot until 'cease' was called for a second time. The judges marked the criteria up until the first 'cease' was called, and Gravity moved through, along with Thor. In the second round of the heat, Gravity went up against the seventh seeds, 13 Black. Gravity was by far the more aggressive robot, and 13 Black spent much of the battle upside down after just one flip from Gravity. After a while, Gravity pushed 13 Black into a CPZ and began spinning around in the middle of the arena, celebrating with its flipper open. Meanwhile, Sir Killalot came in and righted 13 Black, prompting Gravity to attack 13 Black again, missing this time and lifting Sir Killalot instead, before flipping their opponent and accidentally throwing the previous Semi-Finalists out of the arena, eliminating them. It is known that before the heat final, and possibly before the semi-final, Gravity had to lower the power of its flipper. This may have come as a result of Gravity damaging the arena wall and camera in its first battle, and this may also explain why Gravity did not attempt to throw Lightning out of the arena. In the heat final, Gravity met fellow newcomers to the UK main competition Lightning. Lightning had suffered a puncture prior to entering the arena and could not escape Gravity's onslaught. Gravity came in for a second attack, but missed and nearly turned itself over instead. The two competitors then became locked in a push-and-shove match, with Gravity causing minor damage to Lightning in the process. Eventually, Gravity was able to get another flip in on Lightning, immobilising Lightning in the process. Gravity continued to flip the beaten machine, before Refbot came in to count Lightning out. To celebrate, Gravity then flipped Shunt and Dead Metal over, leaving Refbot as the only other mobile machine. Refbot showed Gravity the red card, but Lightning was already counted out, and so Gravity progressed to the series Semi-Finals. In the first round of the Semi-Finals, Gravity was placed up against the number 5 seeds Dantomkia, the robot that WJ Dijkstra feared the most of all the other series semi-finalists. However, when the battle started, Gravity very quickly slid underneath Dantomkia and rushed over to the arena side wall, throwing it out of the arena in 5.8 seconds, setting the record for the shortest battle in the UK series, and the fastest battle of the original run. This quick victory put Gravity up against the reigning champions, Tornado, in the second round of the Semi-Finals. In this battle, Tornado was the quicker machine, and slammed Gravity into the arena wall and then into Sir Killalot's CPZ. Gravity sustained a puncture, and Tornado continued to push it around the arena. Gravity finally got underneath Tornado and flipped it high into the air and upside-down. Tornado shoved Gravity again, but Gravity flipped Tornado the right way up. Tornado activated the pit release button and pushed Gravity onto the pit just as it was opening, and Gravity fell into oblivion. Gravity attempted to qualify to represent the Netherlands in The Third World Championship. Scraptosaur and Tough as Nails were its opponents. Tough as Nails pitted Scraptosaur, then chased Gravity around the arena and caught it, but Gravity escaped and flipped Tough as Nails. The invertible Tough as Nails was not affected, and grabbed Gravity again before pitting it alongside Scraptosaur. Gravity also participated in the last battle to be filmed in the Robot Wars Arena prior to the series' 12-year hiatus, the House Robot Rebellion, competing alongside Behemoth. Gravity was brought in as a substitute for Bigger Brother, who was originally due to fight in the battle, but was replaced after aiding in an assault on the House Robots in the All Stars tournament, the producers feeling that it had attacked the House Robots too often. As Gravity had already defeated two House Robots, its inclusion in this battle was very fitting. Gravity was rammed by Growler in the opening seconds, but recovered and flipped Growler onto its back fairly quickly. Meanwhile, Behemoth activated the pit just as Cassius Chrome drove over it. Gravity used this opportunity to flip Cassius Chrome onto its side over the pit, but Refbot would later free the trapped House Robot. Gravity tried to attack Mr. Psycho but could not flip it, and the colossal House Robot smashed Gravity with its hammer, immobilising it. Behemoth attempted to use the motionless but still actively armed Gravity as a weapon against the House Robots, but Behemoth struggled to push Gravity forwards, and Cassius Chrome shoved them apart. Mr. Psycho had become immobile during the battle, leaving only Cassius Chrome and Behemoth active at the end of the five-minute battle. The audience decided that Behemoth and Gravity were the winners of the House Robot Rebellion. Later on, the damage caused by the hammer blows from Mr. Psycho was revealed to be nothing more than the long antenna dropping from the supporting tube into the robot. The sensitive failsafes of the Mythras speed controllers didn't accept the radio controls any more, but the RC switch that commanded the flipper remained functional. Live Events WJ Dijkstra still continues to fight with the Gravity robots in Live Events in the UK and across Europe with some success. It finished in the top 8 in the Robot Wars Live World Champioships 2015 which were held in Colchester. Results